Cycle Facility Treatments - (continued)

Treatment 4.

This treatment is to be used in the very few situations where there is not room for Treatment 3a. When intersections have left turn lanes, bus priority at lights and right turn lanes and the adjacent property building lines are close then the space available for a cycle path is reduced. From the plans provided to us we have assessed that this situation probably only occurs on the eastern side of the Longueville Road and Epping Road intersection where Treatment 4 would only be required for a short distance. Design work to reduce the application of this treatment in other locations is desirable and may include resuming some land from parks or widening pathways by means of cantilevering, use of retaining walls, reducing the width of medians, removing turning lanes, reducing the width or traffic lanes or realigning footpaths. Where Treatment 4 is used we expect that other claimants to space have similarly compromised.

Across the intersection from this treatment it is expected that the cyclist will pass directly back to the superior Treatment 3a rather than continuing as Treatment 4.

The locations where this treatment is necessary are areas of high pedestrian traffic movements and therefore this path should follow Austroads 14 guidelines for cycle path scenario "F" in figure 6-19 with a width of 4.0m and a design speed of 20 km/hr.

Any traffic signals should have press buttons that are easy to reach from on the bike on the left side of the path and should have holding rails where possible.

Traffic islands must be able to accommodate a tandem bicycle of over 2.5m in length and tricycles and trailers which are 0.9m wide. A generous safety margin should also be allowed in all dimensions.

The drop kerb at pedestrian crossings should be at least 3m wide to allow for cyclists to cross without being funneled into a narrow gap. This kerb should be "lipless" to provide an easy transition and to reduce the probability of flat tyres due to pinches on the sharp lips.

If this treatment is used to cross a side street then the pavement should be coloured bright green. At side streets which are not controlled by traffic lights signs facing motorists should indicate "Warning - cycle path. Give way to cyclists." Signs facing cyclists should indicate "Warning cars crossing cycle path".

In a situation with Bus Priority at Traffic lights we believe that pedestrian lights should "turn green" at the same time as the buses, thus giving cyclists and pedestrians the least possible delays.

It is critically important that cyclists can ride their bikes, rather than walk them, along the pathway and also across intersections to enable speedy travel times.